01/08/2025
CLEAN YOUR OWN HOUSE FIRST, MR. SPEAKER: Before Preaching Anti-Corruption, Romualdez Must Face the Rot Within
OPTIC Politics DEPO | August 1, 2025
When House Speaker Martin Romualdez stood at the podium and declared that the House of Representatives would “fight corruption,” it sounded like yet another rehearsed performance — hollow, grand, and painfully ironic. Because if the Speaker is serious, he might want to start by cleaning up his own backyard. And while he’s at it, maybe clean himself up too.
In a damning revelation by former Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, at least 67 congressmen in 2022 were allegedly acting as contractors for their own government projects — a blatant conflict of interest and a gross betrayal of public trust. These projects, heavily linked to the billions allocated for flood control, are drenched in irregularities, anomalies, and signs of collusion.
Among those named or linked in various past reports involving contract corruption are:
• Rodge Gutierrez – Rider Partylist
• D**g Gonzales – Pampanga
• Zaldy Co – Ako Bicol Partylist (and House Appropriations Chair — yes, that powerful post)
• Proceso Alcala – Quezon
• Elias Bulut Jr. – Apayao
• Florencio Vargas – Cagayan
• Victor Yu – Zamboanga del Sur
• Jocelyn Sy-Limkaichong – Negros Oriental
• Arturo Robes – San Jose del Monte
• Adelina Rodriguez-Zaldarriaga – Rizal
• Janette Garin – Iloilo
• Jayjay Suarez – Quezon
• Czarina Umali – Nueva Ecija
These are not fringe players — they are central to Romualdez’s political coalition, some of them recipients of massive district funds, others quietly pocketing influence through infrastructure, flood control, and procurement channels. These are the same lawmakers who pledge undying loyalty to the Speaker — and, in return, enjoy political protection and budgetary rewards.
And let’s not forget: Martin Romualdez is the undisputed “father of the ayuda.” His brainchild — the P500 million in cash assistance programs and financial aid distributions — was touted as a response to rising inflation and public need. But behind the veil of charity lies controversy. The ayuda has been surrounded by allegations of being weaponized: used to buy loyalty, manipulate public perception, and even as a tool for political campaigns.
In the run-up to elections, the distribution of ayuda — funded by taxpayers — conveniently ramped up. Mayors, barangay captains, and grassroots leaders were suddenly flooded with cash-linked programs bearing the stamp of Romualdez’s office. Critics described it as “legal vote-buying,” where poverty is exploited to manufacture allegiance.
So when Romualdez says “we must hold public officials accountable,” we ask: Will you, Mr. Speaker, include yourself? Will you open the books on the billions in flood control projects and your controversial ayuda machinery? Or are you simply using anti-corruption slogans to distract from your own involvement?
And President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. — cousin to the Speaker — must choose between public duty and family loyalty. He must watch closely if Romualdez will clean house, or if his so-called “war on corruption” is nothing more than a rhetorical smokescreen, amplified in his oratorical flourishes yet empty in ex*****on.
This is not just about corruption — this is about system failure. When Congress becomes a contractor, when financial aid becomes a political weapon, and when the people’s money funds dynastic survival — democracy is undermined.
Speaker Romualdez, clean your chamber, investigate your allies, open your own records. Until then, your words mean nothing. And every peso wasted is another nail in the coffin of public trust.
